Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I remember reading about his defeating a dark Jedi on Dagobah too. It was the "explanation" for why the Dark Side cave existed.

In my prequels you never see Yoda, just hear of him by reputation. Another surprise I would want to preserve for ESB.

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

When I was a kid, I always imagined he was more like a monk or something. Dagobah was either his home planet or where he decided to stay because the whole thing was just a giant swamp and teeming with life. He just stayed there and meditated on life and the Force and jedi shit. Like the old martial arts movies or something. Yoda could have killed you with a thought, but he would never have killed anything. If you got good enough, they'd send you there to become a true Jedi.

But in order to actually TEACH it properly, you'd have to hang with Yoda on Dagobah for years. Obi-wan could be a Jedi, but having not 'retired' to Dagobah for a decade or so, he shouldn't have been teaching anyone at all. Being isolated on Dagobah would give you a true appreciation for life, and you'd go out of your way to avoid a conflict. Being isolated on Tattooine for a couple decades allows him to figure this out. He doesn't kill anyone in episode 4 (that I can recall, at least...)

It should be a philosophy, not just a bunch of neat 'force whatever' skills. Every time I see someone use the phrase "force lighting" or "force push" or something I cringe. Fucking videogames ruin everything.

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Squiggly_P wrote:

Being isolated on Dagobah would give you a true appreciation for life, and you'd go out of your way to avoid a conflict. Being isolated on Tattooine for a couple decades allows him to figure this out. He doesn't kill anyone in episode 4 (that I can recall, at least...)

No, but Obi-Wan clearly had no qualms about hacking an arm off anyone who started shit in a spaceport bar.

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Well, being isolated in a lifeless expanse of desert that is quite literally unending does give one a mildly different appreciation of the boundless and unending incarnations of life than Dagobah would.

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Oh yeah, the videogames are what ruined it. Not the movies that actually established the force powers trick maneuvers in the universe.

Otherwise, yes, I agree with absolutely everything in your post.

They don't call them anything in the original films. The first time I'm aware of the specific 'tricks' being given names were video games. As is evident in the prequels, giving them names and making them specific things you train how to do ends up limiting the scope of what's possible. The Force lets you run fast and jump high and push and pull things and shoot lightning bolts out of your fingers, and it doesn't really wear you out when you use it. Meh. Now it's just a few simple tricks and not a way of life. It takes years to learn how to jump and run fast? Buy a jet pack like Boba Fett. It's not worth a decade.

And, yeah, he does take that guy's arm off, but he doesn't kill him, and he really really tried to not have to do that. He's pretty non-confrontational in that flick. He even says so before they go into the bar.

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Squiggly_P wrote:

And, yeah, he does take that guy's arm off, but he doesn't kill him

Do you follow this logic in everyday life? Just curious, in case we're ever at a bar together.

For me, the OT established that the Jedi were rare, and possibly not even real. What they were capable of - if they existed - was unknown. You were a little crazy if you even entertained the idea that Jedi existed. They were like the Loch Ness Monsters of Star Wars.

Then we find out that maybe you're not crazy to believe in Jedi, but you sure had to be crazy to BE one. All four Jedi in the OT were nuts - not one of them could function in normal society. ObiWan was probably the least crazy of the bunch, but even he would start cutting off limbs the minute he went into town. Geez, Grampa - you're embarrassing us.

Now THOSE Jedi, I like.

I think the problem was those damn glowy swords. All the kids wanted a glowy sword, and they ignored the part where it was made clear only lunatic hermit-monks who practiced some hokey ancient religion had those. So the books and games became more and more about Jedi, to the point where now being a Jedi is considered somehow normal... even something to aspire to. Now that's crazy.

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I think that's a general rule of story telling. One or two samurai, wandering the countryside, occasionally meeting others, works. Showing thousands of them in the service of some lord, not so much, unless they're quickly slaughtered and we get down to just a couple wandering around. Same with guns. An army? Boring. Armed former soldier who's a bit insane? Fun.

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Invid wrote:

I think that's a general rule of story telling. One or two samurai, wandering the countryside, occasionally meeting others, works. Showing thousands of them in the service of some lord, not so much, unless they're quickly slaughtered and we get down to just a couple wandering around. Same with guns. An army? Boring. Armed former soldier who's a bit insane? Fun.

What about LOTR or Kingdom of Heaven?

I have no problem with Jedi in their hey-day but like Trey said, it's not the impression we got from the OT that they were just hanging around Galactic Central, giving speeches and chilling in the Senate. No exactly enigmatic monks there. But, I also like Jedi, and enjoy learning about them. I liken them to the Wizards in LOTR and have read as much as I can on the 5 Wizards in Tolkein's mythos. But, they are still mysterious and do not appear much. And we don't see two of them at all.

This, of course, supports Trey's argument in the commentaries that the Jedi should not be so prominent in the story. But, even if they play a small role, you could still have them show up in a final battle, of sorts, where they gather the Jedi from across the galaxy for a battle, similar to Aaragorn gathering his Dunedain kin for his battle at Pelennor fields. Again, its when you know that things are getting deadly serious when the Jedi, who we have only seen one or two of, martial together.

That's why I like the Old Republic setting of games/timeline/thing as it allows the Jedi to be very populous without affecting the OT-at all. But the PT is showing the fall of Vader and the Republic and becoming the Empire, so it shouldn't be about the Jedi at all, save for the small part they play in Anakin's life. And then Mike wrote a story...the end

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Needs more midi-chlorians.

But seriously, Mike, this is awesome. Keeping Darth Maul till the second movie and having him go out the way he does is genius. It makes you think about how fucked Obi-Wan is when he needs to square up to Anakin.Great job!